Waiting For Five O'Clock
by Akuma no Tsubasa
Summary: In honor of the National Day of Silence, an X-Men one-shot. Probably actually rated high, except for those who disagree with the ideology represented. Also, two coarse words. Homo- and bisexual characters depicted. Northstar and Iceman on the Day of S


In honor of the National Day of Silence, I proudly present an X-Men one-shot:

**Waiting For Five O'Clock**

Scott stared at Northstar as the customarily snarky Quebecois gathered his usual breakfast, read his paper, and put his dishes in the bin 'to be washed'—all without making so much as one smart remark. In fact, he didn't seem to say anything at all.

Scott watched the man leave, with the usual sneer and none of the usual biting sarcasm, then leaned over to whisper in Emma's ear.

"What's wrong with Northstar?"

Emma frowned at him a moment, then blinked. "Oh, it's National Day of Silence, or something like that. It's for gays, lesbians, bis, transgenders, and people who support them. Anyone who wants to show their support can just be silent all day until five this evening. It's supposed to be symbolic of the silence the people living alternatively are forced into to avoid being hurt or victimized." She shrugged. "He asked for permission to hold it several weeks ago, and I granted it."

Scott was bewildered. "How's he supposed to conduct his classes if he won't speak?"

She shrugged. "He said he'd be reasonable, talk if he had to. He said he'd make a lesson plan that required very little speaking. I know there's going to be some student participation, too."

Dazed, Scott shook his head. "How did I miss this?"

Emma smiled. "Scott, dear, you've always been far more focused on the X-Men part of Professor Xavier's dream. Having run a school myself, I find I'm a bit more likely to keep tabs on things to do with the school itself. Don't worry about it. But don't do anything to screw it up either—I don't want to be scraping you off the walls once Northstar's done clobbering you."

Scott nodded and decided Emma knew what she was doing and he'd better just hush and leave her to it.

* * *

Northstar sighed quietly to himself as he sat down to lunch. He couldn't **wait** until five, when those participating in the Day of Silence would shout and holler for a few minutes, then go right back to talking. As a teacher, he didn't get it so much, but he'd seen how a lot of 'his' students were being ignored as the day went on. Some people still talked to them, but many figured, after a few minutes of them being mute, that it wasn't worth trying to talk. Still, it was a great method of drawing attention as a community, and fairly easy to organize, so he really couldn't complain.

A tray clattered down next to him, bringing Northstar's head up. Bobby Drake sank into the chair and began packing the food away with his usual speed. Northstar, however, was confused. He'd heard the rumors about the Iceman being 'phobic, even if they weren't spoken too loudly or often. Surely, if they were at all true, the frozen mutant would have picked somewhere—anywhere—else to sit, rather than directly beside the prime organizer of an event like the Day of Silence.

Come to think of it, though, he hadn't seen Drake all day. It was possible he didn't even know what was going on. Although, he had to know that Northstar was gay—before she left, Annie had told him how she'd revealed that much to the evidently clueless X-Man. Ever since, Northstar had found it nearly impossible to be anywhere near the man without some pressing reason—sometimes, he seemed to just evaporate when he saw him coming. It wasn't unusual for them to go days without so much as a passing greeting, but Northstar couldn't recall a day when he'd not seen the younger man at least a handful of times during the day, most of those before lunch.

Wracking his brain, he tried to remember if there had been a mission or something, but found there hadn't. So where the hell had the frigid little bastard been all day?

And why was it bothering him so much. No, wait, never mind. He knew why it bothered him—despite his apparent homophobia and rampant heterosexuality, and even though he'd become a walking ice cube, Bobby Drake still held a dreadful allure for him. One thing Northstar recognized about himself that he hated but couldn't shake, was that he couldn't seem to set down a torch once he started carrying it.

As quickly as he'd sat, Iceman was rising again, his plate cleared. There was something strange about the way he pressed his lips together that caught Northstar's attention. Usually, Bobby's mouth was slightly open, relaxed, with a slight smile at the corners. Currently, that expressive mouth was compressed, a frown curving surprisingly generous lips, and a little crease formed between his brows. Even as Northstar looked on, breath arrested by a sudden spike of want, Bobby reached up and rubbed that crease, almost as though in pain.

Northstar was jolted from his musing on how lifelike Bobby's seemingly permanent ice form was by the icy man tromping off. With a sigh, Northstar took a moment to absorb the chill lingering in the space next to him—the closest he'd probably ever get to really sharing space with Robert Drake.

* * *

Northstar stood at the back of the small cluster of students, watching the self-nominated student leaders of the Day of Silence whipping up their still-silent crowd as they counted down to the Yell-Out, the breaking of the Silence. He was more or less content with the day. Iceman's strange behavior still weighed on him, but his students had pulled together remarkably well. Given that it was a new activity, and the relatively small size of the school, Northstar would have expected only a tiny fraction of the turn out they got. If ten percent of the population was 'alternatively inclined,' and mutants followed the same rules, most of the 'alternative' population of the school was here.

Northstar knew this wasn't so—he knew several faces were missing. Fortunately, it seemed that many of those who had decided to participate had managed to get their straight and non-transgendered friends to come. Even with the weird looks they'd gotten all day—which disappointed Northstar, since some of those mutants…let's face it, some mutants looked like they were beaten to within an inch of their lives with the ugly stick.

Still, for the first time, this had been an incredible turnout, and most of the other students had been tolerant, if not accepting.

Ten seconds to go, and people were waving their hands in the air, someone had produced a rainbow flag from somewhere, and people were nearly dancing on the grass in front of the Mansion.

Finally, ZERO. Shouts and cries and shrieks tore through the late afternoon. Jean-Paul himself let go one loud cry, almost a war whoop, then faded into the background, settling in for a long evening of watching young people celebrate the simple ability to speak.

* * *

Sunset was slowly fading into night, the sky the green-blue color of a fading bruise, mingled with violet. Bobby stood watching the last colors leeching from the sky, thinking about what it meant to be silent. He'd spent most of the day out here, doing just that. Going in at lunch, he realized that Northstar had somehow managed to get an organized Day of Silence going. He sat beside the man, hoping some little bit of his guilty, carefully hidden joy had made itself known to the Quebecois. He doubted it, though—he was far too good at hiding this particular secret, and not even a telepath could really find it.

He had many reasons for silence, most revolving around his need to fulfill the expectations of others. They expected him to be funny, immature, and straight. Well, he had the immature down pretty well, but funny had deserted him lately, and bi was not quite straight. The X-Men were his family, and had been since he was very young. All the new members caused an upheaval in his universe—people were always coming and going, now.

The X-Men and the Mansion just didn't feel like family and home, these days.

So, what was the point of his continued silence, if the people around him no longer meant everything to him? Maybe it was time to speak up.

The sky had just turned velvety black when Bobby's frozen throat opened to deliver a scream to the cooling air—the scream of a newborn, poised just at the cusp of actually **living** for the first time.

_fin_

Hi!

This one-shot is in honor of the National Day of Silence, April 13, 2005. I happen to love Northstar and Iceman together, so here this is. If the mood strikes me, it may become part of a series. Or not.

The Day of Silence is observed differently, depending on where you go. For my school, we observed silence from 8 am to 5 pm. From 4:45 on, we stood on the grass and counted down. At five, we all shouted at the top of our voices. Then we talked and had pizza and soda and played games. It was our first year, so it was a pretty small turnout—I hope to see it grow next year.

Anyway, the Day of Silence isn't the only time people in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community have no voices. If you are reading my works, you probably don't have any problem with 'alternative lifestyles,' even if you're not so yourself. Please remember to speak up, for yourself and others, no matter your preferences. It's like telling someone to stop hitting or insulting a woman, the handicapped, people of different religions, or people of ethnic descent. It's just the right thing to do. Please help all the people who, for one reason or another, cannot or will not speak up for themselves. Someday, maybe those reasons will be eliminated and people of all types will be able to be proud of who they are, **ALL** of who they are.

In the meantime, we're all just waiting for five o'clock, when someone will tell us it's finally okay to speak up.

Thanks for your attention, and sorry for preaching.

Sincerely,

Akuma no Tsubasa


End file.
